In New ITA Rankings, Bulldogs Move Up To No. 30, Boast Three Doubles Pairs in the Top 60

Hanna Yu. (photo by David Silverman, DSPics.com)

Jan 20, 2012

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – In the ITA Rankings published on January third, the Yale women's tennis team moved from No. 31 in the nation at the end of last season to No. 30 to begin 2012.

The No. 30 ranking places the Yale squad head and shoulders above the rest of the Ivy League. The next closest competitor is Princeton, ranked at No. 50, followed by No. 53 Brown, No. 56 Dartmouth and No. 64 Harvard. The team didn't play in many formal matches together, but both the singles players and the doubles pairs had very strong performances in the fall tournaments, indicating that the sum of the parts should be an Ivy League force to be reckoned with.

Yale's three doubles pairs were also ranked highly, starting with freshman Hanna Yu and senior Vicky Brook at No. 16. The pair boasted an 8-2 record in the fall and will look to build on that throughout Ivy League play, as they were the highest ranked pairing in the League. The next highest ranked is Columbia's Crystal Leung and Nicole Bartnik, at No. 19, but they were defeated by Yale's No. 39 ranked squad of sophomore Blair Seideman and senior captain Steph Kent. That pairing finished with a 4-2 record, highlighted by the defeat of Bartnik and Leung. Finally, freshman Amber Li and sophomore Annie Sullivan took the No. 59 ranking. The team went 6-2 in the fall.

With all three doubles teams ranked, as well as the high overall team ranking, Yale looks strong heading into the winter and spring seasons. No other Ivy League team had more than two doubles pairs ranked, and the only one that did, Princeton, peaked with a high ranking of No. 51.